Christopher Walken purposely destroyed a Banksy mural in Bristol

All true: popular actor Christopher Walken purposely destroyed a Banksy mural in Bristol. Walken, best known for his unforgettable role in The Huntsman, which won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1979, as well as for numerous blockbuster films(Courtesies for Guests, Try and Catch Me, Batman - The Return, The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow, and many others), took a roller and obliterated one of Banksy’s world-famous rats that can be found in the British street artist ’s hometown. The action was recorded for the final episode of a BBC series, The Outlaws, which aired last Wednesday on British TV-Walken is the lead actor.

The Outlaws, written and directed by Stephen Merchant, is a series belonging to the dark comedy genre that tells the story of a group of delinquents sentenced to do community service in Bristol, and their daily routine is disrupted, as in an innumerable list of great classics of cinema and action TV, by the discovery of a bag full of money, which is, however, sought by shady and very dangerous characters. Walken, in the series, plays Frank, an American petty criminal who lives in Bristol with his daughter and grandchildren: in the episode in which he is seen erasing Banksy’s mural, Walken’s character, engaged in his daily work, is ordered by the social worker who follows him to erase the graffiti, despite Frank’s pointing out that the rat looks good. The social worker, however, hears no reason, and Walken is forced to pass the paint roller over Banksy’s rodent.

The BBC, in a statement, "confirmed that the artwork at the end of The Outlaws was an original Banksy, and that Christopher Walken ran paint over the artwork while filming the scene, eventually destroying it." According to The Sun newspaper, Banksy (who has not publicly commented on the incident) is reportedly a fan of Walken and was pleased that his hometown was chosen as the setting for the series. So it seems that the artist did not protest, rather: the action may have been agreed upon with Banksy himself.

Pictured are two frames from the sequence in which Walken destroys Banksy’s mural.

Christopher Walken purposely destroyed a Banksy mural in Bristol

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